requiemforkingsmouthfandomcom-20200213-history
Prima Invicta
'Conspiracy: Prima Invicta' '' Purpose: To rule the world. What else? ''Doctrine: ''To control the world you need to be able to pull strings at the highest levels: big banks, universities, the FBI, the CIA, giant corporations. The Prima Invicta's focus is on Influence, and they use the traditional four Bs to get it: bribery, bullying, blackmail, and blood. They call these the ''tilt (mortal means of control, though they're just as happy to make the target think something has happened as to actually do it) and the twist (blood). To these they add the takeover - the Embrace. Membership: ''Unsurprisingly, the bulk of the Prima Invicta are drawn from the Invictus. It's fairly rare for them to approach Kindred who haven't made the basic effort of learning the rules of Society, but exceptions have been made for particularly well-placed and influential Kindred. The Invictus who join are not always well-placed or successful, but have always demonstrated ambition and cunning. Like all Conspiracies, the Prima Invicta keeps itself secret. In their case, however, this has nothing to do with the social consequences of discovery. It's simply that where the Invictus is open to every vampire who is willing to make an effort (and the covenant will pull them up by their bootstraps), the Prima Invicta is selective. They consider themselves the best of the best of the best, and by continuing as a secret society they are able to pick and choose their members more easily. Only Mastermind-style players are eligible for membership in the Prima Invicta. 'Initiation Benefits' • The character gains a free Specialty in either Politics or Subterfuge. •• The character gains a free Retainer (••). ••• Buying dots in either the Dominate or Majesty Disciplines now cost less due to the fact that the conspiracy has so many within the group willing to teach. The character may purchase one of these as if it were an in-Clan Discipline. •••• All Influence Merits cost one Beat less than usual. (Allies, Retainers, Contacts, Mentors) ••••• The very elite of the Prima Invicta are a conspiracy within a conspiracy. Called the Black Estate, they learn the occult power granted by knowing - and using - True Names. All Disciplines used on an individual whose True Name is known receive a +2 bonus. Additionally, the character gains access to Nomenclature as an out-of-Clan Discipline. 'Nomenclature' Nomenclature lacks the subtlety of many other forms of Blood Sorcery, taking a very logical, mathematical approach. Thing One, affected by Thing Two, results in Thing Three. Practitioners focus largely on expanding their list of Things rather than coming up with more complicated equations. Other practitioners of Blood Sorcery, if they knew of it, would call it ridiculously modular and, ironically, soul-less. Of course, keeping others from knowing about Nomenclature is fairly high on the list of priorities of the Black Estate... ''Blood Sorcery Nomenclature is a kind of Blood Sorcery, like Crúac and Theban Sorcery. It can be learned by any Kindred, but its use is almost exclusive to the Black Estate of the Prima Invicta, who keep it strictly secret. All iterations of Blood Sorcery have five themes: Creation, Divination, Destruction, Protection, and Transmutation. The first dot of any Blood Sorcery grants two dots of Themes linked to that type of Sorcery, as well as a dot in the player's choice of the other three. Every time the character learns a new dot of the Discipline itself, an extra dot is gained in a Theme the character already knows. Theme dots may be bought independently of the Ritual Discipline for 15 Beats each. If a character somehow learns another variation of Blood Sorcery, the Theme dots she already has at equal to or lower level than the new Discipline are usable with it, but she only gains one extra Theme dot rather than three when first learning the new Discipline. ''Mechanics'' Linked Themes: '''Creation and Transmutation '''Sacrifice: All uses of Nomenclature cost one Willpower point. Dice Pools: *''Improvised:'' Intelligence + Occult + Theme Unlike most ritual disciplines, Nomenclature has no rituals. It can only ever be improvised, with all the corresponding penalties. As usual, the target number of successes when using Nomenclature is the total Theme dots used in the ritual (not just the highest), adjusted according to any Ritual Factors. Motif: Named, literal, deliberate. Named: ''Many mythologies tell stories of powerful beings creating the world with a word. To pick two obvious examples, the Judeochristian myths have God saying "let there be light", and the Egyptian myths have Ptah giving life through the magic of his Word. Nomenclature works on the same principle, the power of True Names. Consequently, a caster who knows many True Names has more options at her disposal than one who knows only a few. Names must be individually researched and bought with Beats. *A basic name costs 2 Beats. Basic names are for things that do not change of their own accord and remain mostly in their original form such as sand, stone, or wood. *A simple name costs 4 Beats. Simple names are for things that do not change of their own accord but have been altered from their original form, such as door, bow, or steel. *A complex name costs 6 Beats. Complex names are for things that are changeable but do not possess individuality, or things that have been worked from their original form, but remain relatively interchangeable. Examples include tree, snake, sword, or flesh. *An intricate name costs 8 Beats. Intricate names are for things that are individually recognisable or capable of personality but not sentience, such as gorilla, cat, or hand. *A unique name costs 10 Beats. Unique names are for individuals with self-awareness, including vampires, ghouls, and mortals. To learn a thing's True Name, the caster must truly understand it - must ''grok ''it. The more complex a thing is, the harder that is to do. This search for understanding should be roleplayed, but must also be demonstrated by successful die rolls. Basic names require two successful rolls, simple names require three, complex names require four, intricate names require five, and unique names require six. The caster may make one roll a day, and must use a different dicepool each time. If at all possible, these should cover physical, mental, and social skills. ''Vampire Bill wants to learn the True Name for 'eye'. This is an intricate name, and therefore requires him to know it in five ways. First he hits the library, reading up on the eye and its structure (Intelligence + Academics). Next, he dissects the eyeball from a cadaver, getting a visceral feel of its surprising resilience and the sudden gush of the aqueous humor when the sclera is finally breached (Dexterity + Science). Then he studies the things that can go wrong with the eye, from astigmatism to cataracts (Intelligence + Medicine). It's said that the eyes are the windows to the soul, so Vampire Bill focuses on people's eyes as they speak, watching for the subtle changes that convey emotion or betray subterfuge (Wits + Empathy). He needs one more success, and realises that he has not yet used a physical skill, which could be seen as him not understanding the eye completely - but what physical skill applies here? After deliberating for a while, Vampire Bill decides what he needs to round out his understanding of the eye is what happens when it is absent or nonfunctional. He deliberately damages his eyes, inflicting the Blinded condition upon himself, and then spends a night moving through the world without the benefits of vision (Wits + Survival). Having achieved his requisite five ways of knowing, Vampire Bill +requests the purchase of True Name (Eye) for 8 Beats, explaining what he has done to grok the concept. '' ''Literal: ''Learning the True Name of a real, tangible thing is difficult, but not impossible. Learning the True Name of a conceptual idea is not impossible, but it often seems that way. There are only a handful of concepts whose True Names are known, taught to a new member of the Black Estate by existing members. Working independently, a Kindred might never uncover one of these conceptual Names in their entire Requiem. Consequently, there are some things which are simply beyond the bounds of Nomenclature. It can turn a human into a frog, but it can't cause a human to feel fear. These concepts represent the way the Themes of Blood Sorcery can be used with Nomenclature. *Creation: 'The Word of Being', a word that encompasses being/existing. It is the 1 to Destruction's 0. When the caster calls something into being it is not summoned from nearby in the way Animalism calls animals, or constructed from a hodgepodge of nearby materials. It pops into existence, fully formed and as if it had always been there. It cannot create anything truly original - whatever is created is a generic version of the type. Thus the caster may create a cat, but not an orange tomcat cat with one white paw and a torn ear. For similar reasons, the Word of Being cannot create anything with a unique name. **Creation • works with Basic Names. **Creation •• works with Complex Names. **Creation ••• works with Intricate Names. **Creation •••• works with Simple Names. *Destruction: 'The Word of Erasure', a word that encompasses nothing/the void/nonexistence/forgetting. It is the reverse of Creation, removing the named thing from the world without leaving any residue or detritus. It is not capable of direct damage, but at the higher levels can do grievous incidental damage by (for example) erasing a target's hand, or eye, or spine. This constitutes lethal or (more frequently) aggravated damage, and may also inflict Conditions and penalties to Attributes. It is not possible to erase a unique individual from existence, even with knowledge of their True Name and mastery of this Word, but it is possible to erase their identity, leaving them with Amnesia, all records of their existence destroyed, and even their closest friends and family with only the faintest nagging sensation that there's something important they have forgotten. **Destruction •• works with Basic and Simple Names. **Destruction •••• works with Complex and Intricate Names. **Destruction ••••• works with Unique Names. *Divination: 'The Word of Insight', a word that encompasses understanding/seeing/knowing/grokking. It cannot be used to see the future, but can be used to gain additional knowledge. A caster in possession of a friend's True Name, for example, can easily find out how far away they are, in which direction, their emotional state and their physical health. **Divination • works with all Names. It provides insight into the greatest strengths and weaknesses of the Name. **Divination •• is most commonly used with Unique Names, as it allows the status of the Name to be monitored at a distance. **Divination ••• allows the caster to seek specific information or ask yes/no questions about the Name. **Divination •••• is most commonly used with Unique Names. Many practitioners find that using their own Name gives them advance warning about whom they might need to confront or befriend, or what they might need to accomplish in order to further their goals. **Divination ••••• can give the entire past of the Named. *Protection: 'The Word of Wholeness', a word that encompasses safety/completeness/health/belonging/mine. This may be used to repair items, heal damage, or provide resistance against effects that might harm the target. If attempting to heal or repair, the caster must spend Vitae as if she were healing an injury to her own body in addition to the Willpower cost. **Protection • works with Unique Names to ward against blood magic and to heal bashing damage in vampires. **Protection •• works with Basic and Simple Names to repair structural damage, and more complex Names to grant armor and protect against untargeted damage. **Protection ••• works with all Names to prevent physical interaction, and with Unique Names to heal lethal damage in vampires. **Protection •••• works with Intricate and Unique Names to defend against mental and emotional effects, including the Vinculum. **Protection ••••• works with Complex, Intricate, and Unique Names to resist Vitae addiction, and with Unique Names to heal aggravated damage and resist the effects of banes. *Transmutation: The Black Estate has discovered two different words that fall under this theme. 'The Word of Command', which is authority/obedience/rightness, and 'The Word of Transformation', which is change/alteration/becoming. The Word of Command can be used to command behavior, with greater expertise required for more complex minds. Thus at the lowest levels it can be used on plants and vermin, while it requires the very highest levels to command sentient creatures. The greatest known effect of the Word of Command is used in conjunction with the caster's own True Name, giving her such an aura of authority that a single command she utters will be obeyed by everyone who hears it - providing the command can be completed before the effect wears off. The Word of Transformation is used to simply change one thing whose True Name is known into another thing whose True Name is known. Drastic changes require considerably more skill, as does increased complexity, so while at the lower levels the caster can change water into wine (for example), she would need a much higher level of Transformation to turn a human into a frog, and could not turn a human into a rock without having mastered the Word. No known use of Nomenclature can animate objects, and Transformation seems capable only of maintaining or reducing a thing's complexity. A human can be turned into a frog, but a frog cannot be turned into a human. **Transmutation • commands Basic Names, and may transform their appearance. **Transmutation •• commands Complex Names, transforms Basic Names, and may transform the appearance of Complex, Intricate and Unique Names within their own category. **Transmutation ••• commands Intricate Names, may transform the appearance of Simple Names, and allows partial transformation of Complex, Intricate, and Unique Names, even between categories. **Transmutation •••• commands Unique Names, and may transform Simple, Complex and Intricate Names. **Transmutation ••••• may transform Unique Names. ''Deliberate: ''Nomenclature changes the fundamental nature of things. It is calm, orderly, and precise. Using Nomenclature always costs a point of Willpower, representing the user forcing her will upon the world. All True Names have two parts: a sound, which represents the ephemeral, and a symbol, which represents the eternal. The caster inscribes the symbol, though individual methods vary from carving it onto a cartouche to painting it with delicate calligraphy onto rice paper. When the ritual's duration expires the physical representation is marred or destroyed, but the reverse is also true: an effect can be ended prematurely by shattering the cartouche or tearing the paper to shreds. 'Source''' ''The Danse Macabre, ''pp 77-80. Category:Cults Category:Conspiracies Category:Prima Invicta Category:Translations Category:Blood Sorcery Category:Unique Disciplines